Chase Bank supports tech entrepreneurship

….effort to encourage SME sector to embrace new technologies to bolster their businesses and remain competitive in the global market….

Chase Bank has today announced its commitment to support tech entrepreneurship in the region in an effort to spur the SME market to move with the new global market trends; that is digital and knowledge -based.

Chase Bank Head Brand and Corporate Affairs Magdalene Mulandi, hands over a cheque of Ksh 3.87million to m:lab East Africa Manager John Kamweti in support of the PIVOT East 2014 startups competition. 

Announcing the commitment during the Bank’s gold sponsorship to this year’s Pivot East competition that focuses on capitalizing the growth of mobile start-ups by tech young entrepreneurs, Chase Bank Head of Brand and Corporate Affairs Magdalene Mulandi disclosed that technological entrepreneurship is ripe in region with mobile innovations growing at an unprecedented rate.  She noted that Chase Bank’s move to commit Kshs 3.87million to support Pivot East 2014 competition is a first step to the Bank’s realization of its brand promise of investing in innovative projects that particularly augments the growth of entrepreneurial sector.

The Pivot East 2014 competition and conference, organized by m: lab East will be held this year on 24th - 25^th June in Nairobi, Kenya. The competition will emphasize on; facilitating discovery and nurturing of the next wave of high potential mobile innovations into sustainable business, ensuring that mobile innovations are high in the agenda of regional governments, corporates and development agencies for amplified development impact and to raise the quality of mobile startup in the region.

“Sponsoring Pivot East 2014 and having the chance to see our youth, particularly those with entrepreneurial skills, showcase their mobile solutions and innovations and their potential in the emerging business is exciting. We at Chase Bank are dedicated to serving the SME sector in all avenues and we strive to meet this goal by engaging in initiatives such as this. We continue to gain stature and focus our business on the SME sector,” said Ms. Mulandi.

Ms. Mulandi further added that the Bank’s gold sponsorship for the Pivot East 2014 comes at the right time as it is ardent about technological developments and investment. She said that Chase Bank is keen on including digital strategy in its business model in efforts to deliver customer value through innovation.

Pivot East is East Africa’s premier mobile startups pitching competition and conference held annually since 2011. PIVOT East contains a series of activities that culminates in the eMobilis, University of Nairobi and the World Wide Web Foundation. In the past years, PIVOT East has drawn applicants from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and DRC. This year, the competition has expanded the scope of applicants to Ethiopia. The call for applicants is currently open at www.pivoteast.com till the 11^th April 2014.

Finalists of the competition, usually 25 each year, receive training, coaching and mentorship in the weeks preceding the pitching conference. These pre-conference  activities  assist  the  finalists  to  improve  key  elements  of  their  business  models  and  the  positioning  of  their startups  to the  rich audience at the  conference. Attendance at the conference is 300-400 people including investors, industry players, government players and development partners at the finalists’ conference.